Mondavi Pinot Noir Reserve

Description

An aromatically expressive wine with exceptional weight and presence, the 2013 Pinot Noir Reserve highlights the depth and complexity of this noble variety.Flavor Descriptors Take in the aromas of this wine and it will be as if you stepped into a fresh grove full of deliciously ripe black cherry bushes, deep rich earth, gleaming wet stones and the airy fragrance of fresh forest. This incredibly fragrant pinot noir adds a complex blend of spices vanilla, clove, nutmeg and pepper to its earthy and black cherry flavors that ride across the palate in an elegant, silky wave.VINTAGE Another record harvest, 2013 saw consistently beautiful weather leading to optimal ripeness in what is being called an epic year. There was almost no rainfall from January through March, bringing an earlier than usual budbreak. April provided a few small rainstorms to quench the vines, and warm weather followed. With just one heat spike in late June and early July, the growing season provided weather for optimal flavor development in the grapes resulting in an early and healthy harvest. The special selection of grapes for this Reserve wine were harvested between August 31st and September 7th.VINEYARDS A notoriously challenging variety, Pinot Noir prefers the foggy, wind-swept slopes of the Carneros region, in southernmost Napa Valley. Through the repeated tastings of our reserve candidates we have brought together select blocks from two renowned vineyards in the Carneros AVA Rancho Carneros and the Hyde Vineyard. The head-trained, dry-farmed vines of Rancho Carneros are over forty years old and bring weight, depth and complexity to the blend. The clonal diversity of the Hyde Vineyard, planted in 1979, further enhances complexity and heightens fruitiness, elegance and structure.WINEMAKING The clusters were hand-harvested in the cool of the morning to retain fruity, delicate flavors, and then carefully sorted at the winery. A portion of the grapes were destemmed and fermented as whole berries to heighten fruitiness, with a remainder fermented whole cluster with stems to add a bit of spice, structure and subtle flesh to the final blend. Fermentation itself took place mainly in small, traditional open-top fermentation tanks, where the cap of skins was punched down gently ensuring a soft, silky mouthfeel. A small portion was fermented in close-top tanks. Several days of cold soak prior to fermentation and extended maceration afterwards, added up to a total of 27 days of wine to skin contact to achieve rich, fully developed flavors. The new wine went into 93% new French oak for malolactic fermentation and matured for 10 months. – Robert Mondavi Winery